Our Tagaytay Wedding

Onset
We first thought of having a very small and intimate wedding. Intimate as in his immediate family and my immidiate family only. We wanted it to be held at the beach. Not in Boracay but in Palawan. But we changed our mind later on because of costs and logistics issues. So we decided to have our wedding in Tagaytay, after all its only “2 hours away” from Manila. Little did we know how that 2 hours drive mattered a lot, not only to us but also to our guests. It affected EVERYTHING--time, budget, schedule of supplier meet-ups, guests accommodation etc. Yes, I have to be honest. I kind of regretted having a Tagaytay wedding (I'm not discouraging you or anything, just sharing my feelings). I think primarily because we were not aware enough of the consequences of having an out of town wedding.

Tip: THINK HARD before opting for an out of town wedding. Be realistic about how much money you really WANT and CAN spend for your wedding. Because out-of-town can also mean out-of-budget.

Choosing the Date
Choosing the date of our BIG day proved to be stressful too! We originally wanted to have a July wedding so our relatives from the US can come home but my father who’s also living abroad said he won’t be able to make it if we choose July. So we settled for a December wedding. It was all set from there. We started booking the major suppliers. We booked the church and venue as well. Unfortunately, months before our wedding, my soon to be father-in-law (at that time) unexpectedly passed away. I won’t talk much about it but it all I can say is that it was one of the saddest moment of our lives. So yes, we had to move the date again. We chose March 04. No sentimental reasons whatsoever. We just thought that the weather would still be nice during that time. Not too hot and not too cold. Luckily, our suppliers understood our situation and did not charge us for changing our wedding date.

Tip: Have at least two back-up dates in case something unexpected happens. You’ll never know. At least your ready diba?

Hunting for Supplier
I THINK this is second the most stressful part in a wedding preparation (I’ll tell you later what’s the first). Our initial budget for our Tagaytay wedding was around 300K (yes, we were unrealistic!). Hence, hunting for a good and affordable supplier had been really a tough challenge. I spent a lot of time reading supplier feedbacks in WOW and in different forums (namuti talaga mata ko kababasa) .  Another headache was the mixed reviews for the suppliers I had shortlisted . Some had a good feedbacks while some had bad.

Tip: You read 5 feedbacks for one supplier. 3 commented that they were sloppy while the other 2 said they were the best.  The 2 probably just got ‘LUCKY’ (unfortunately, we were one of the unlucky ones for one of our supplier)

Decision Making
This is the hardest part when planning a wedding. We (ladies) are born with the ficklest of the fickle mind you all know that. What you want today, you may hate tomorrow. Choosing a wedding designer. Choosing a wedding design. Choosing a photographer. Choosing a Church. Choosing the menu. Choosing a wedding theme or motif. Aaaaghhh. Imagine all that? And the horror. The horror of making the wrong decision. That is the scariest part.

I don’t have any tip for this part because again this is my own true weakness that I have yet to conquer. But let me leave you these inspirational quotes about decision making.

“My basic principle is that you don't make decisions because they are cheap; you make them because they're right.”
~Theodore Hesburgh

“The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice.”
~Abbe' D'Allanival

“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the decision right.”
~Dr Phil

Was it worth it?

Yes, I supposed. Because our family and guests enjoyed Tagaytay’s cool weather and Taal’s breath taking view. And the wedding? Well, no ‘major major’ glitches. But I had tons of ‘could have’ and ‘should have’ going through my mind every time I look at our wedding pictures. I know, I know, wedding pictures are meant to remind you of the happy moments but I can’t help it hahaha. I guess that’s already a part it and I call it “post wedding syndrome” hehehe.

Coming up….pictures from our ocular visits.